Trigger actuator for firearms



July 8, 1958 T E. BOURQUIN 2,841,908

7 TRIGGER ACTUATOR FOR FIREARMS Filed May 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a EN/NVENTDR EU ENE souqqom ATTUHNEY E. BOURQUIN 2,841,908

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 oum m O N B E E \E G U E ATTUHNEY July 8, 1958 TRIGGERACTUATOR FOR FIREARMS Filed May 16, 1955 Y soldiers shoulder.

TRIGGER ACTUATOR Fo 'F @Eugene 'Bourquin, Geneva, Switnerland,assignorto;

The present 'inventionrelatesto firearms and in par-' ticular riflesintended to be fitted with grenade launchers.

- The object ofmyinventionis fto provide a' firearm of this kind whi his .better adaptedfjtol meettttei require;

* United States Patent false'move may result in a broken forefinger.

ice

he is liable to suffer injuries which may be serious.

The object of the presentinvention is to avoid d F Wb k" I, i i i, p 7

According to the invention, there-is provideda trigger control deviceintended to be usedwhen thegun is to I launchgrenades and constitutedas'follows. 1

mentsof practice than those used up to the present time,

andin particular which is less dangerous tohandle'Q Such firearmsinclude a trigger and-a trigger guard arranged in such mannerthatforlnormally firing the arm,

the soldier inserts his forefinger between the trigger and the frontpart of thejtrigger guardso asto'be able to pull the ;.trigger.According to the present invention; there is" provided a', trigger.control. device including an oblonglever. extending substantially inthe. direction of'the linei of fire of the arm and on one side of thetrigger guard, in combination with means for movably mounting saidpart-gen said trigger guard so that'said part can 1be ,-actuated adirection transverse tosaid line of fire ibyfthe tips of the fingers(the word finger being used specifically to designate the fourextremities of the hand other than the thumb) of'the soldiers handcurved under the trigger V guard with the ball of the thumb appliedagainst the side of the firearm opposed to that on which said oblongpart is mounted, said part carrying means for engaging the trigger whensaid part is moved toward the trigger guard transversely to the line offire.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafterdescribed 'with reference to-the accompanying drawings, given merely byway of example and in which: Fig. l is a perspective view of a grenadelaunching rifle made according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are, respectively, a side View, a bottom view and arear view of the trigger control device belonging to said rifle.

Figs. 5 to 8 are views similar to Figs. 1 to 4 respectively and showinga second embodiment of the invention.

The drawings show a rifle which may be used either for firing bullets inthe usual way or for launching grenades by means of a launcher fitted onsaid rifle.

The rifle stock is designated by reference numeral 1.

In the usual fashion, trigger 2 is protected against accidentaloperation thereof by a trigger guard 3 constituted by a curved piece ofmetal surrounding the trigger.

,. Such an arrangement is quite suitable when the rifle j is firingbullets.

' On the contrary, when the rifle is fitted with a grenade launcher, therifle butt is no longer applied against the In this case, the rifle istightly held between the right side of the soldiers body and his rightelbow, the front part of the rifle being held by his left hand; In sucha position, the rifle cannot be held as 7' strongly as in the precedingcase and the recoil is much more important. If the soldier inserts hisforefinger be- Y tween the trigger and the trigger guard and if he doesnot manage to withdraw said forefinger suflicientlyquickly,

ably carried by the rifle and inparticular by the trigger :guard in suchmannerthat the soldier can" move part 4 transversely by means of thefinger tips of his right hand I (Fig. 4) curved, below the trigger guardand the 'ball of I the thumb of .which' is. applied against the rifleside op posed to that on Which'le've'r 4' ismounte d. Suitable means areprovided for transmitting this transverse movement of part 4 tothe'triggerin order to actuate'it. With such an'arrangement, recoil ofthe rifle is no longer dengerous because said rifle will then slipinsidethe soldiers hand.

' above explained (see Fig. 4) and on the other hand the scription,disclosed what I deem to be practical and efii cient embodiments of myinvention, it should be well unright hand side of the trigger guard isleft free sons to enable the soldierto engagehis forefinger betweentrigger 2 and the. trigger guard when he is firing bullets with therifle butt applied against his shoulder. V

Lever 4 may be permanently fixed to trigger guard 3.

, However it seems preferable to mount it in a. removable fashion, forinstance by means of side plates 7 located on either side of triggerguard 3 and connected together by" means of screws 8. The left hand sideplate 7 is provided with a boss in which the pivot pin 5 of lever 4 ismounted.

.The means for transmitting the transverse motion of lever 4 to trigger2 may be made as follows:

In the construction of Figs. 1 to 4, lever 4 carries, rigid therewith, akind 'ofcam 9 which cooperates with trigger 2 when lever 4 is moved inthe direction of the arrow of Fig. 3 to pivot said trigger rearwardly.This arrangement is advantageous when the displacement of the trigger isrelatively short.

When the movement of the trigger is to be longer,

it is advantageous to make use of the arrangementof Figs. 5 to 8 wherelever 4 carries an extension or lever arm 10 which is applied againsttrigger 2 and pushes it 10 in a position such that they do not exert anyrearward thrust on trigger 2.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above dederstood that I do notwish to be limited thereto as there might be changes madeinrthearrangeinenhdisposition and form of the parts without departing from theprin- .ciple of the present invention as comprehended within the scopeof the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A firearm which comprises,in combination, a stock, Q

this

Preferably, as shown by thedrawing, -lever 4 constitutes a kind oflever, of rounded shape in the'outward direction, which is pivoted tothe trigger guard about an ax-is si. parallel to the plane oflongitudinal 'symmetryof; the rifle and substantially at right angles tothe line-of fire." 1A return spring-6 urges said -lever 4 -awayfrorntrigger guard3. Q 1

. In the preferred embodiment illustrated by the draw-' in'g, lever-4lis. located ongthe'left hand side of triggei guard 3 so that on theone hand it can be actuated as;

a trigger pivoted to said stock, a trigger guard carried by said stocksurrounding said trigger, an oblong lever pivoted to said trigger guardon the left hand side thereof about an axis parallel to the longitudinalplane of symmetry of the firearm and at right angles to the line of firethereof, said lever extending-in a direction substantially parallel tosaid line of fire, and its dimension in this direction being greaterthan the Width of the palm of a human. hand, and resilient means forurging said lever away from said trigger guard; said lever including apart shaped and positioned for cooperating with said trigger to actuateit when said lever is pushed toward said trigger guard.

2. A firearm which comprises, in combination, a stock, a trigger pivotedto said stock, a trigger guard carried by said stock surrounding saidtrigger, an oblong lever pivoted to said trigger guard on the left handside thereof about an axis parallel to thelongitudinal plane of'symmetryof the firearm and at right angles to the line of fire thereof, saidlever extending in a direction substantially parallel to said line offire, and its dimension in this di rection being greater than the widthof the palm of a humanhand, and resilient means for urging said leveraway from said trigger guard, said lever including a cam fire thereof,said lever extending in a direction substantially parallel to said lineof fire, and its dimension in this direction being greater thanthe widthof the palm of a human hand, and resilient means for urging said leveraway from said trigger guard, said lever including an arm rigidtherewith for cooperating with said trigger to actuate it when saidlever is pushed toward said trigger guard;

integral therewith for cooperating with said trigger to actuate it whensaid lever is pushed toward said trigger guard. p i

3. A firearm which comprises, in combination, a stock, a triggerpivoted'to said stock, a trigger guard carried by said stock surroundingsaid trigger, an oblong lever pivoted to said trigger guard on the lefthand side thereof about an axis parallel to the longitudinal plane ofsymmetry of the firearm and at right angles to the line of 4. A firearmwhich comprises, in combination, a stock, a trigger pivoted to saidstock, a trigger guard carried by said stock surrounding said trigger,an oblong lever pivoted to said trigger guard on one side thereof aboutan axis parallel to the longitudinal plane of symmetry of'the' firearmand at right angles to the line of fire thereof, said lever extending ina direction substantially parallel to said line of fire and itsdimension in this direction being greater tha'rithe width'of the palm ofa human handQand IesiIient means'for' urging sa'id'lever away from saidtrigger guard, said lever including a part shaped and positioned for cooperating' with said trigger to actuate it when said lever is pushedtoward said trigger guard.

' References Cited in the file r this patent UNITED" STATES PATENTS ,7672,149 Hoehn Apr. 16, 1901 2,383,044 Craig Aug. 21, 1945 2,589,227Colley Mar. 18, 1952 2,671,287 Hayes Mar. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,065Great Britain 1897 760,735 Germany June 15, 1953

